The fate of former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is now in the hands of a jury.
Sandusky is charged with 48 criminal counts alleging sexual assaults on 10 boys over a 15-year span.
The jury of seven women and five men will be sequestered during deliberations. If convicted on all counts, Sandusky could get 500 years in prison.
Of the charges, several are mandated felonies, which means the judge has no discretion in sentencing, and the sentences are fixed. Most of the mandated felonies Sandusky is charged with carry a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison. If he is convicted of just a few mandated felonies, the 68-year-old could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Court officials said they are still finalizing plans, but most likely, when the jury reaches a verdict, 85 members of the public will be allowed back in to hear it on a first-come, first-served basis.
The defense rested its case on Wednesday in the high-profile child sex abuse trial without Sandusky taking the stand in his own defense. He has denied the allegations against him, and his attorney has suggested the accusers have financial motives.
The jury heard from eight accusers who claim Sandusky abused them. The defense countered with character witnesses that include Sandusky’s wife, Dottie, and has sought to portray investigators as planting the seeds of those abuse reports during interviews with the alleged victims.
The jury’s discussion got under way Thursday afternoon, following closing arguments by the defense and a state prosecutor.
Prosecutors sought to portray Sandusky as a “predatory pedophile” who used gifts and the pageantry of Penn State’s vaunted football program to lure and abuse vulnerable boys who came from troubled homes.
“What you should do is come out and say to the defendant that he molested and abused and give them back their souls,” Senior Deputy Attorney General Joe McGettigan said. “I give them to you. Acknowledge and give them justice.”
Sandusky’s attorney called the former coach a generous man being victimized by investigators who led accusers into making false claims about a beloved father figure whose charity gave them much-needed love.
During his closing statements, Sandusky’s defense attorney, Joe Amendola, gave an passionate defense saying numerous times that the case doesn’t make sense, that the system decided Sandusky was guilty and set out to prove it.
Amendola said Sandusky’s life changed on Nov. 5, 2011, when he was first charged, and his life was ruined. Amendola then ran down the list of charges and accusations, poking holes in the prosecution’s case.
Amendola contends police repeatedly interviewed accusers, literally trying to put words in their mouth. Amendola also touched on the issue that the accusers are out for money.
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